Moving the debate on....although personally I wouldn't put anything direct into a power amp other than an Oppo 105-that's the machine designed for optimum stereo playback....I have had the chance now to try the Oppo in this mode.
I've upgrade my amp to a Rega Osiris which has the ability to take a direct input.
The first thing I noticed due to the gain differences is that at volume level 1 on the Oppo is pretty loud as a starting point (0 is mute) although I've ordered some attenuators to see how that works.
What I do prefer is that the Oppo gives a much tighter volume control that the Osiris itself-that 0.5db increase is nice.
I haven't done this particularly analytically and I don't have a sound meter but I have a quick A/B using Beck's Sea Change (HDCD) and Radiohead's OK Computer.
To me the most obvious thing is that going in direct has a much more closed in sound-my speakers neither project the detail or 3D sound staging. It is noticeably different and possibly the change in presentation (I've only had the amp 4 days and only listened normally during that time) is off putting and I'm missing some positives but my gut reaction off the bat etc etc is that in my system with my amp going direct seems inferior and noticeably so.
I will return to this in more detail later as I do prefer the volume control steps via the Oppo.
I've upgrade my amp to a Rega Osiris which has the ability to take a direct input.
The first thing I noticed due to the gain differences is that at volume level 1 on the Oppo is pretty loud as a starting point (0 is mute) although I've ordered some attenuators to see how that works.
What I do prefer is that the Oppo gives a much tighter volume control that the Osiris itself-that 0.5db increase is nice.
I haven't done this particularly analytically and I don't have a sound meter but I have a quick A/B using Beck's Sea Change (HDCD) and Radiohead's OK Computer.
To me the most obvious thing is that going in direct has a much more closed in sound-my speakers neither project the detail or 3D sound staging. It is noticeably different and possibly the change in presentation (I've only had the amp 4 days and only listened normally during that time) is off putting and I'm missing some positives but my gut reaction off the bat etc etc is that in my system with my amp going direct seems inferior and noticeably so.
I will return to this in more detail later as I do prefer the volume control steps via the Oppo.